Now, a glove to write your texts and emails in the air

Washington: Researchers have developed a new innovative 'air-writing' glove system that allows users to write texts and emails in the air with their hand. When the wearer of the gloves draws letters in the air with their hand, the system can identify which letters are being drawn.

Those letters are converted into digital text, which could then be input into an email, text message, or any other type of mobile app, 'Gizmag' reported. The glove developed by a team of computer scientists at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is equipped with accelerometers and gyroscopes that detect hand movements.

The system then identifies which letters are being drawn and converts them into digital text, which can then be wirelessly entered into an email, text message or other mobile apps. Once it is determined that letters are indeed being drawn, the computer then sets about identifying the individual letters.

When the wearer of the gloves draws letters in the air with their hand, the system can identify which letters are being drawn.

The programme incorporates statistical models of the unique signal patterns for every letter in the alphabet, and can account for differences in individual writing styles. It can also recognise approximately 8,000 words, along with complete sentences.

Christoph Amma, who developed the technology, now hopes to miniaturise the sensors to the point that the glove could be replaced by something less impractical to everyday use, such as a wrist band. Amma also envisions the hardware being incorporated into a smartphone - in that way, a single hand-held device like a cellphone could be used both to detect hand movements, and to process the data.